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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Who dies at the end of Book 3?

2. Why did Dido's people take on a peaceful mood toward Aeneas' people?

3. How does Anchises act when Aeneas first comes to help him escape?

4. What does Sinon say is the purpose of the big wooden horse?

5. Which of the following is NOT a type of funeral game?

Short Essay Questions

1. Why should Aeneas not have tried to found a city in Thrace?

2. Describe the "marriage" between Dido and Aeneas.

3. Why are Dido's suitors so angry when she takes up with Aeneas?

4. How does Aeneas make sure that people notice his son Iulus?

5. What are Neptune's feelings toward Troy and toward Aeneas? How do these feelings affect Aeneas' journey on the sea?

6. What are some ways the characters in Book 2 are affected by fate?

7. What does Dido ask her people to do and what does she personally vow to do before she committed suicide?

8. How does Anchises explain the process by which souls become reborn?

9. What qualities of a good queen/leader does Dido exemplify? Cite specific examples from the book in your answer.

10. Why is Juno so angry with the Trojans?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

A bildingsroman is a work of art that tells of the development of a character, perhaps telling how the character matures or grows capable of taking on a duty as the process of a journey or a series of trials. Explain why The Aeneid is or is not a bildingsroman by examining how Aeneas does or does not develop over the course of it. Examine issues such as:

1) his capacity as a leader

2) his control over his emotions and temper

3) the wiseness of his judgement

4) his treatment of others.

Essay Topic 2

Compare and contrast the actions of Juno and Venus throughout the story. For what reasons do these two goddesses become entangled in the affairs of humans? At what points do they cross the line and become too involved? At what points does Jupiter intervene and tell them to stop? What techniques and strategies do they use to change the outcomes of events in the world below?

Essay Topic 3

One of the main characteristics of epic poems such as The Aeneid (and The Iliad and The Odyssey) is that the poem starts "in medias res," or in the middle of the action. The narrative then reveals information about what came before through various means, such as characters telling tales of the past or the narrator providing background. Discuss how this work begins in the middle, what information the reader is eventually given about what happened before, how this information is provided, and what effect this structure has on the experience of reading the poem.

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